City Commission approves 4-way stop in Puckett area

Tuesday

Dec 13, 2011 at 10:07 PM

KAREN SMITH WELCH

The city of Amarillo will install a four-way stop at a southwest Amarillo intersection where speeding cars have lost control and slammed into houses, fences and other property, according to residents there.

Nancy and Andy Nenstiel petitioned for the four-way stop at the intersection of Kingston Road and Granada Drive in the Puckett neighborhood after an incident earlier this year when a car crashed into their kitchen, causing $28,000 in damage, they said.

The Nenstiels' daughter was home at the time of the accident, Nancy Nenstiel told the Amarillo City Commission Tuesday.

"We no longer let the children play out front," Mrs. Nenstiel said. "In getting the petition signed, every neighbor had a (similar) story."

The Nenstiels obtained signatures of 62 of 80 residents whose property is adjacent to the intersection, according to a memo from Interim Traffic Engineer Taylor Withrow.

The city followed a state law requirement and notified, by mail, 254 property owners within a 1,000-foot radius of the intersection that a four-way stop was under consideration, Six recipients responded, all in favor of the change, City Manager Jarrett Atkinson said.

Two other residents also shared stories of crashes. Those who spoke said drivers often take a curve in Granada Drive at excessive speeds, a problem they hope the stop signs will curb.

The city commission voted unanimously in favor of the four-way stop installation, which had been recommended in a 6-0 vote of the Amarillo Traffic Commission.

City commissioners also voted 5-0 to establish a public improvement district for RedStone, a subdivision under development at the southwest corner of Loop 335/Hollywood Road and Coulter Street.

State law allows petitioning property owners to seek formation of an improvement district to pay for installation and maintenance of public amenities that go beyond what the city normally provides, Atkinson said. Examples would be landscaping, green spaces and entry features.

People who buy residential property and companies that buy commercial property within the future subdivision will pay annual property tax assessments to the district for construction of the amenities and their ongoing maintenance, Atkinson said. Those who purchase in RedStone will pay an initial annual assessment of 0.0017 cents per $100 in property value as set by the Potter-Randall Appraisal District. The owner of a $200,000 property, for example, would pay $340, city Planning Director Kelley Shaw said.

City commissioners also unanimously voted to hire Empire Environmental Group to remove asbestos from three mothballed city structures on a downtown block bordered on the north and south by Southwest Sixth and Southwest Seventh avenues and on the east and west by Buchanan and Pierce streets.

The city will pay Empire $54,246 to clear asbestos from the former police department and municipal court buildings and a small garage, according to city information.

Once that job is completed, the structures can be demolished to make way for a 300-room, $69.3-million convention center hotel, a key part of a planned $113-million, public-private downtown redevelopment project for downtown Amarillo, Atkinson said.

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